PROTOTYPE AND BACKGROUND INFO:

Perhaps one of the most recognizable icons of American railroading, the caboose completed the train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were long required for switching and shunting, and to keep a lookout for load shifting, damage to equipment and cargo, and overheating axles. In the extended-vision or wide-vision caboose, the sides of the cupola project beyond the side of the car body. The drover caboose offered baggage and L.T.L. (Less Then Load) capacity and caboose functionality to North American branchline railroading. This streamlined operations on these routes where traffic density wasn’t heavy enough to support a designated baggage car.